Chapters 2 (Continued) and 3 of "Because Digital Writing Matters"

As much as I know about copyright law, licensing of digital works and plagiarism in the digital realm, I had never heard of the term copyleft. The authors describe copyleft as “a play on copyright, refers to a form of licensing that is focused on fair use; makes a resource free, and requires all modified, adapted and remixed versions to be free as well” (56).

One text that the authors mentioned about this topic that I am interested in reading more about is the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. I will most certainly check this out, since I do focus on media literacy in my courses and do want to make sure that I am following the best practices.

Another thing that Chapter 2 pointed out which I was previously unaware of [I’m becoming almost overwhelmed at this point! So many things that I am so unaware of!] is Noodle Tools. However, essentially Noodle Tools seems to be a citation generator. I have a problem with citation generators. The reason for this is that often [more than often, almost always] the citation generators get the citations wrong. They often use an older version of MLA or APA, use a different font (which students do not change to the font of their paper), or both. Thus I instruct all of my students to use The Purdue Owl’s MLA or APA instructional guide to learn how to do citations and specifically not to use citation generators.

I wonder what you all think about this- can there be advantages to using tools like citation generators? Usually technology makes our lives easier- this technology makes my life harder because it does citation wrong for students.

On page 72, it was nice to see the emphasis on following copyright rules in digital spaces. I learned another acronym- AUP’s (Acceptable use policies). This is probably because although MSU has an AUP, it is not as much of a focus for technology use as compared to K-12 settings, where there are legal issues surrounding minors and technology use.

In all, I certainly have felt that, through reading Because Digital Writing Matters, I have entered into the conversation about digital writing, not just on the college/ university level, but from every stage from Kindergarten through University. This text is certainly one that I will keep to reference for years to come (or until an updated edition appears)!